Hecatomb in Ferrari and another double for Red Bull

• Azerbaijan GP Qualifying and times

• World Cup 2022 The pulse between Verstappen and Leclerc

After so much talk about a crazy race, in which no one could feel safe from catastrophe, Red Bull closed its quietest Sunday of the year in Baku.

The third double of

and

coincided with the catastrophe of Ferrari, which lost

and

along the way .

The breakage of the engine, in the case of the Monegasque, and the hydraulic breakdown of the Madrid driver, the usual wildcard with which almost everything is usually explained, represent the first double zero for the

since the 2021 French GP. No hassles, almost for a walk, Verstappen secured his fifth victory in 2022, while his squire kept the fastest lap bonus.

45 seconds behind the winner saw the checkered flag

, the leader that Mercedes needs given the lethargy of

.

's rear wing along the way

.

With so many setbacks ahead,

took advantage of the situation to repeat another seventh place, his best of the year.

This is the weekly trend for the two-time champion, who did everything in his power to follow

and still had to contain the last attempts of

.

There was no more power to catch up with Tsunoda, nor for

to slow down his pursuers for so many laps.

They can still feel satisfied in Alpine with the Frenchman's point, the last not to be lapped by Verstappen.

Losing ground in the first corner

Red Bull's sovereignty was even more hurtful when coinciding with the Ferrari drama.

From Imola the ruin has been installed in the

, today with 80 points less than Red Bull in the Constructors' World Championship.

In these five races, Leclerc has gone from leading the championship to drop to third position, 12 points behind Pérez.

In a week, Leclerc will have to mount a new power unit for Canada, with an even more fateful addition: if the turbo has to be changed, he will be penalized 10 positions on the grid.

Charles's good intentions in Baku were lost in the 300 meters that separated the start and the first corner.

Pérez easily surpassed the Monegasque, who still blocked the wheels to avoid scoring a straight.

Even the most unconditional understood that Red Bull's pace on the four straights was unapproachable for Ferrari.

And that the brand new red rear wing was not enough for Sainz to follow in the wake of Verstappen.

Reality even worsened the forecasts for the second free session, with a favorable tenth per lap for the Red Bulls.

Only nine laps had elapsed when something went wrong with Sainz's SF-75, who had to seek refuge in the run-off area at turn 4. The third retirement in eight races by the Madrid native at least opened a window of opportunity for Leclerc, who would mount the tires hard.

A risk bet with which they tried to reach the goal thanks to a single pit stop.

However, a

error already slowed down the process by 5.4 seconds.

Zhou and Magnussen breaks

With the road open, Red Bull only had to tidy up its chicken coop and convince Pérez with good words to give up the lead to Verstappen.

This procedure was formalized on lap 15, at the end of the straight.

"No fight," they warned the Mexican on the radio, before putting him in the garage, to trace Ferrari's strategy.

The stop was bad, but enough to keep the position with Russell.

Neither were the mechanics going to split hairs with Verstappen, although it would not matter after all.

Because on the twentieth lap, a dense cloud of smoke brought grief to

's team .

If three weeks ago, in Montmeló, it was the turbo and the MGU-H, this failure seemed typical of the combustion engine.

Two months have passed since Leclerc's last victory, unable to capitalize on his three

since then .

To add more uncertainties to the Ferrari engines, just a few minutes later

(Alfa Romeo) and

(Haas) broke other engines provided from Maranello.

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• Carlos Sainz Jr.

• Fernando Alonso

• Max Verstappen

• Sergio Perez

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